Seats are prevalent in a wide variety of technologies, from office chairs to bicycle seats. Several problems with conventional or traditional seats include providing sufficient directional support based on the seating application and/or the form and forces exerted on the seat by its user.
Traditional bicycles, for example, commonly employ a seat that consists of a rigid base. The base may or may not be covered with cushioning material. The cushioning material typically consists of a thin layer of foam padding. These types of seats provide support in a limited number of directions, usually only for a small area of human anatomy, and very little suspension.
One alternative type of seat employs an air bladder. The air bladder includes one or two air bladders positioned between the rigid base and a cover layer, arranged either one in front of the other, or side-by-side. These air bladders, which range in thickness from about 0.5 to 1.5 inches, provides minimal cushioning and no actual suspension, and only cushion alternative sides of a rider's buttocks. This results in a loss of energy due to the compression and decompression alternating between the bladders.
For bicycle applications, the vibrations and shocks one receives from riding, distributed among varying intensity and directions, particularly in off-road riding, are not sufficiently absorbed by traditional or conventional seats. For bicycles and other applications, what is needed is a seat that can offer omni directional shock and vibration absorption and cushioning, that can absorb shocks as large as 8 to 10 inches or more, such as those encountered in real world cycling, and that can be adjustable or reconfigurable for various bicycle riding scenarios or for a variety of rider types, rider ability, rider weight, terrain conditions, and riding style/intentions.